WO 00/57798 discloses an surgical cutting instrument comprising two legs, wherein one of said legs is provided with a cutting blade that is moved towards the other leg by exerting a downward force and by which a cutting procedure can be performed, commencing from the edge of the tissue portion for the removal of tensions, for example, during child-delivery. To this end, the instrument is embodied in such a manner that it is much easier to manipulate than scissoring instruments known in the prior art.
Practice has shown that in many applications, such as when an episiotomy is performed wherein tissue is subjected to tension, after making an initial incision of the edge, separation of the tissue into two parts is performed in an uncontrolled manner. This has the drawback that the tension cannot be extenuated in the desired manner, which makes the later healing process considerably more difficult. Above all, the improper separation of the tissue makes the joining thereof by suture considerably more difficult.
A sealing device is known from EP 1645238 A1 that operates like a pair of scissors and is provided with clamping jaws which can be used to engage and seal an artery or other portion of tissue. A cutting blade can be inserted into one of the clamping jaws with some sort of construction. If, for example, an artery is sealed, this can then be separated after the sealing procedure with a separate lever mechanism.
FR 1024981 discloses scissors wherein one of the scissor blades has been curved such that cutting is effected from the extremity of the blade of the scissors.